….Somvar….Monday …Shiva Day ….Segunda ….Dia de Shiva..

According to Joseph Campbell , in the The Power of Myth book , Shiva is the oldest archetype venerated in the world. Shiva is also the third god in the Hindu triumvirate. The triumvirate consists of three gods who are responsible for the creation, upkeep and destruction of the world. The other two gods are Brahma and Vishnu. Brahma is the creator of the universe while Vishnu is the presever . Shiva’s role is to destroy the universe in order to re-create it. To open space for the new.

He is also known as Nataraja , the God of dance and the God of Yoga. He is the protector of animals and lord of Martial Arts.

Somvar or Monday is considered Shiva day.

To celebrate this day, I picked a story from Iyanla Vazant book – One Day my soul just opened – 40 days and 40 nights towards experiences of spiritiual strentgh and personal growth.

This is a story told by teachers of Siddha Yoga tradition.

Once a woman went to a park to meditate. She found for herself a quiet and sunny place to sit on.

Breathing deeply, she closed her eyes, getting ready to start focusing on her own thoughts and feelings.

While her breathing was becoming more and more steady and mind quieter, she realised that some birds were singing around her. In the beggining the sound of the birds was adding a sweet melody to her inner peace. After some time, the volume of the birds chipping got so louder almost like they were fighting to each other. The woman bravely tried to keep focus on her inhaling and exhaling, but the birds seemed to be screaming louder and louder.

Suddenly she opened her eyes. She came to notice that there were about 20 birds around her while the rest of the park was empty. With a fast hand gesture she scared the birds away.Some flew, others kept themselves silently closed to her.

She starting meditating again. The birds began screaming louder. Irritated the woman looked for another place to keep meditating. The birds followed her. She yelled at them: “That’s ridiculous”. Again she scared away the feather animals. Trying to avoid her the birds flew higher, screaming louder and louder. Insanely angry for having her peace of mind disturbed the woman start throwing a blanket at the birds wherever they were. They carried on with the loud noise, getting away from her whenever she was close. At certain point she realised how crazy was her behaviour and decided to leave the park.

At night the woman told the experience to her guruji. Sharing it to the teacher, made her angry again. The guruji smiled and asked:”Why you didn’t invite the birds to join you?”. “How could I have done that?” she replied back. “OM NAMA SHIVA” answered the man. It means “I surrender myself to Shiva (or the God) who lives inside of me “.

Some days later, the woman got back to the park. Everything happened like the first time. She sat, closed her eyes and focused on the breathing. The birds started to scream, super loud. As soon as she heard them , mentatlly said : “OM NAMA SHIVA”. The birds foloowed her: “OM NAMA SHIVA”. The woman didn’t open her eyes. She kept breathing, saying louder inside of her head: “OM NAMA SHIVA ! OM NAMA SHIVA! Suddenly she realised that she was surrounded by silence. Either the birds have flown away or they have just went quiet. She didn’t open the eyes to see which one of the situations have happened.